Embroidered Journal DIY

I wanted to share a little project today that I am using for my MOPS group. If you don't know what MOPS is, it stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. Basically I get to go hang out and drink coffee with other women while someone takes care of my kids; it's fantastic. And bonus for me, I get to come up with the crafts we work on all year. It's a fun challenge to come up with quick, easy crafts that are still fun and engaging. Here's what I planned for our first meeting:

With a craft like this, you can make it as simple or as complicated as you want. Here's what I did.

I started by sketching out a simple cactus design. Obviously you can use any design you want and could find something already available online for free. If you want to sketch your own design, I recommend doing a simple line drawing and then adding in dots where you will need to stitch.

Next, tape your design on a blank notebook. Once that is in place, use a pushpin to poke holes in the notebook cover. Just make sure you are working on a surface you can poke; I used a cardboard box.

Then use embroidery thread to stitch around your design. I just taped my thread to the back because I didn't care how it looked; I covered it with paper later.

Once you are done stitching, secure the end with tape. Then cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit the cover and glue into place over the threads.

Finally, I added some embellishments with tape and letter stamps. If you follow me long enough, you will learn that I love a good pun.